Vehicles that attain high speeds relative to air are generally designed so as to be aerodynamically favorable in order to reduce drag and thus increase their efficiency. From certain speed ranges onwards it can be observed that, due to airflow deflections at higher speeds, turbulent boundary layers arise on surfaces of vehicle body components that project directly into the airstream, for example on leading edges of tail units or wing assemblies of aircraft. Designing these aerodynamic components to reduce the drag caused by boundary layers is, however, not entirely viable due to the associated limitations of design space or functions. Therefore, in order to reduce drag resulting from the turbulent boundary layer, concepts exist for sucking air from upstream regions of tail units and wing assemblies of aircraft for reducing drag, which concepts are, however, at present only used in research aircraft or research vehicles. The vehicle body component under investigation is, for example, implemented in the form of a tail leading edge or a wing leading edge comprising suction openings, which vehicle body component extends from an upstream forward delimitation, for example a leading edge, to a forward spar of the structure of the tail unit or wing assembly.
In research aircraft in which such suction removal of air from a turbulent boundary layer takes place by way of a vehicle body component with openings, the vehicle body component under investigation is usually designed as a double-walled structure comprising an outer sheet and an inner sheet. These sheets are spaced apart from each other at a constant distance and are interconnected by means of strip- or ribbon-shaped webs. This results in several suction chambers from which, by actively applying negative pressure or suction, air may be sucked in by way of the suction openings of the outer sheet.
EP 1 699 686 A1 and US 2009 0020653 A1 show a device for the removal by suction of a boundary layer from the surface of an aircraft in which the air removed by suction is fed to an air conditioning system.
In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.